


Five Times

by Solkatt2410



Series: Old Works [7]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chronic Illness, Chronic Pain, Friends to Lovers, Injury, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Violence, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, genius naruto, kids to adults
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-15 17:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16067669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solkatt2410/pseuds/Solkatt2410
Summary: A story about being saved, life's strange ways and how getting hurt can lead to something good.





	1. First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Seems 2011 was a productive year for me. Well, this was supposed to be a 5 + 1 fic, but I don't have the epilogue/+1 chapter. Not sure if I lost it or it never was written. I might come back to this one day though. This was written before Kyuubi's name was revealed, so my apologies if I missed changing it anywhere. God, the grammar in this thing made me scream..

The first time Sasuke literally saves him is the summer when he's seven and he falls from the tree he and Kiba are climbing.

* * *

Naruto slips, missing the next branch his hand is supposed to reach and goes tumbling down the tree, a wide eyed and frightened expression on his face. He screams as the speed makes hitting the small, yielding branches so much more painful. He's still reaching for Kiba who yells his name when he lands, ramming into something soft before he tumbles to the ground. His eyes are squeezed shut and it takes a few moments before he realizes that he's alive, then he's sitting up, staring wide eyed down at the raven haired boy beneath him.

Said raven swears and shoves him off, making him tumble head over heels down onto the grass again.

"Fuck, watch it, dobe! Next time, make sure you can climb before going that high!" the raven haired boy grits out as he sits up, a little bit away, and Naruto knows he's about to cry when the boy glares angrily at him. As tears spring to his eyes, the dark glare softens before it grows annoyed. A fist lands on his head rather gently as the raven mutters, "Don't cry, dammit."

Naruto sniffles and bites his lower lip stubbornly as the boy looks him over with a frown.

"You're not hurt, are you?" he then asks and the small blond shakes his head vigorously. The raven sighs quietly in what seems to be relief before he murmurs, "Ah, good."

Then the older boy rises with a grunt and offers him a hand. Naruto takes it and is pulled to his feet, crying out when his ankle immediately gives out underneath him. Unable to hold the tears back now, he sobs against the boy's chest, his hands clenched tightly in his dark shirt.

"Naruto! Shit, are you alright?" Kiba shouts as he comes running over to them and the blond shakes his head with a whine.

"Hold him up," the raven haired boy says to Kiba who does, rubbing the back of his friend's head soothingly as the older boy drops to his knees and looks at Naruto's ankle. Naruto wails in pain when he touches it and the raven grimaces.

"Is it broken?" Kiba asks anxiously and the raven glares at him when Naruto's sobs grow in intensity then he rises.

"Hn. Get on, dobe. I'll take you to the ER," the boy says as he bends his knees, standing with his back to Naruto and looking expectantly at him. Kiba helps Naruto up and the blond wraps his arms tightly around the raven's neck, making him groan.

"You're choking me," the raven says and Naruto lets go a little as the boy's hands under his knees support him better. The boy jumps a little to heft him higher up and Naruto grimaces in pain as he sobs against the boy's neck.

"I wanna go home.. I wanna 'Ruka-chwan.." the blond sobs and the older boy frowns then looks down at Kiba who is trotting beside him to keep up.

"Who is Ruka?" he asks briskly and Kiba jumps a little then looks up at him with big eyes.

"Iruka-sensei's Naruto's parent or something like that. Iruka-sensei's not his dad, though," Kiba says and the raven's frown deepens into a scowl.

"You mean his guardian?"

Kiba nods eagerly and the older boy faces forward as he asks,

"What's your name? Have you got a phone?"

"Nuh-uh. Momma says I'm to small. And me name's Inuzuka Kiba!" Kiba replies and the raven grimaces.

"Do you know Iruka's number then?" he asks and receives another shake of head from the brunette. "Great."

"But Naruto always wears this funny bracelet around his arm, it looks like Akamaru's collar!" Kiba then said brightly and the older boy frowned.

"Who's Akamaru?"

"My dog, of course!" Kiba replies, giving him a look as if he was stupid and the raven lifts an eyebrow then nods and stops.

"Hn. I have my phone in my pocket. Take it then press all the numbers on one of the rows on the bracelet then show me the phone," he says, nodding to his left jeans pocket and Kiba puts his hand in the pocket and pulls out a small, black cellphone. The older boy crouches down as Kiba tip-toes to read the numbers and punches them in, the tip of his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he frowns in concentration. When he's done, he holds the phone up with a proud grin and the older boy nods and says, "Now press the button with green on it."

"Okay!" Kiba says and the older boy straightens as he looks to see if the signals are coming through, hearing the dial tone faintly.

"Push the button above the red one then be quiet," the raven then commands and Kiba does, almost dropping the device when loud **Beep!** s comes from the phone. The older boy begins walking again as he listens to the signals and Kiba trots beside him, holding the phone up. Naruto cries softly against his back and the raven can feel a large wet patch of the back of his shirt which make shim grimace.

" _Umino Iruka here,"_ a kind voice then answers and the boy lifts an eyebrow in surprise before he says,

"Umino-sensei, it's Uchiha Sasuke."

" _Ah, Sasuke! Why are you calling me a Saturday?"_ Iruka asks, his voice surprised and Sasuke frowns.

"I have two boys here, one Inuzuka Kiba and one 'Naruto'-"

"Ne, ne! Iruka-sensei! Naruto hurt his leg when he fell down from the tree!" Kiba interrupts and Sasuke grimaces.

" _WHAT! Hurt his leg? How bad is it!"_ Iruka asks urgently and the raven frowns when Naruto's sobs pick up again.

"Quite bad. I don't think it's broken though but he's in shock from falling a good twenty meters. I'm on my way to the ER, can you get there? I think Naruto would be happy if you came," Sasuke says and Iruka agrees then hangs up and Sasuke instructs Kiba to shut the device off but doesn't stop to take it back.

"My leg hurts... I wanna go home!" Naruto sobs and Sasuke frowns again, now in worry.

"You'll be fine," he says then feels that the child is shivering and realizes that it's the after effects of the shock. "Hey, dobe. We're at ER soon and Iruka-sensei will meet you there, okay?"

"'Ruka-chwan? Papa will come and get me?" Naruto says and Sasuke nods.

"Hn."

Looking ahead, he notices that he barely has two hundred meters left. After he's crossed the street they'll be practically in the building. Quickening his pace, he jogs slowly to not jostle the child on his back as he hurries to Konoha Central Hospital. It's a surprise that it was built, since people almost never get sick or hurt in the dull city. Kiba's still holding the phone as he runs beside him to keep up, a small, worried frown on his face.

"Ne, he will be fine, right? Right, Uchiwa-san?" Kiba asks and Sasuke's eye twitches.

"Uchi _ha_ , got it? And yes, he'll be fine," the raven mutters as he looks to right and left twice before he hurries across the street. Slowing down and stopping before the door, he rises his knee and pushes the large button that opens it.

Kiba takes a hold of his pant's leg when they go inside, looking around with big eyes. Sasuke gives him an annoyed glare before he ignores the little boy and walks over to the front desk in the empty room. The nurse that has black hair and glasses looks up and asks,

"What can I help you with?"

Sasuke shifts and glares at her for a moment, thinking.

"Naruto here-" he nods to the child on his back that's still sniffling rather pathetically, "-sprained or broke his ankle. His guardian should be here any minute now. Umino Iruka is his name and I'm Uchiha Sasuke. The boy's Inuzuka Kiba, he was playing with Naruto when he fell down from a tree."

"Alright, good," she murmurs as she rises and goes around the desk, peering at Naruto. Her name tag reads Shizune, Sasuke notes before she leans forward to talk to the blond on his back. "Hi, there," she smiles at Naruto who sniffles and looks at her with wide eyes. She then asks kindly, "Would you like to come down so I can look at your ankle?"

Naruto thinks for a moment before he shakes his head vigorously.

"But if you don't come down, I can't help you, Naruto-chan," Shizune says and Naruto tightens his hold on Sasuke who grunts. The raven frowns when he realizes that the blond is still shivering uncontrollably.

"Ie. Don't wanna," Naruto mumbles and Kiba pokes his leg, wanting to ask him about a thing, but unfortunately he's too close to the child's ankle. The blond wails and Kiba jumps, pulling his hand back as if he'd been burned as Sasuke cringes.

"Gomen, gomen, Naruto! Didn't mean to hurt!" Kiba says frantically and Naruto sniffles then mutters,

"'S okay."

"Dobe, let go," Sasuke then orders and Naruto whines softly but does when the raven crouches down, landing on his good foot. But before he knows what he's supposed to do next, Sasuke has caught him again and is holding him in his arms, wrapping him up in the shirt he was wearing. Naruto curls together, still trembling as he leans against the raven's chest, his hand curling in the black tank-top the older boy is wearing.

"Ne, Uchiwa-san?" Kiba then asks and Sasuke twitches and _glares_ at the boy. Kiba lifts a hand and rubs his neck with a nervous grin. "Um.. Is Naruto freezing?"

"Hn," Sasuke grunts then looks at Shizune who's carefully removing the blond's sandals and rolling up his pants' legs. Looking at the swollen, purple area around Naruto's ankle she frowns slightly and Sasuke get a hunch that it's bad after all. She glances at him and nods then straightens and says,

"Naruto-chan? If we don't do anything, and Uchiha-san stays, would you like to lie down in a bed?"

"Hai," Naruto mumbles and Shizune nods with a smile.

"Follow me, Uchiha-san," she says and Sasuke sighs and does. She leads them to a empty examination room and murmurs to Sasuke before she leaves, "I'll be calling Tsunade-sama down as fast as his guardian is here. It's fine if he falls asleep."

Sasuke nods and she leaves after he's put Naruto down on the bed. He's forced to sit down too when Naruto refuses to let go of him and the blond curls up against his side like a kitten as Kiba goes about to touch everything in the whole room.

It's barely been four minutes before Shizune's back with a busty blond in a Doctor's coat and Iruka who immediately sits down on the bed.

"Naruto? Are you alright?" he asks worriedly as he strokes the blond's hair and Naruto uncurls to move over to his papa.

"My leg hurts, papa," he whines and Shizune holds out a paper with smiling and sad faces on them.

"Naruto-chan? Point at the one that you feel like, okay?" she says and Naruto points at the most crying face. "Tsunade-sama?"

"Hai. Iruka-sensei, we've met before but I think Naruto's too small to remember that," the busty blond says with a slight frown and the blond looks up at her with confusion.

"I know you, baa-chan?" he asks and Tsunade lifts a fist menacing.

"Don't start with me, brat. Now, you've broken your ankle but we'll just take some pictures up in the X-ray and put on a cast and then you can go home, alright?" she says and Naruto nods, a little bit frightened, then he hides in the folds of Iruka's shirt. As Naruto is given pain medication, Sasuke gets up to leave only to notice that Naruto's still holding onto him.

"Dobe, you're papa's here now, let me go," he says, a little bit annoyed, and Naruto does reluctantly when Iruka urges him too. Sasuke looks at the blond who clearly is about to start crying again for a moment then huffs and sits back down. "Alright, alright. But only until you're not hurting anymore."

"Thank you, Sasuke-san," Iruka says thankfully and Sasuke nods glumly as the blond grabs his hand again.

Naruto's teary smile is still bright enough to light up the room. Later, Shizune discovers that Sasuke has broken a rib that Sasuke has been deliberately ignoring the pain from and she basically manhandles him into a bed and calls his older brother.


	2. Collision Course

The second time Sasuke saves him he's twelve and it's actually not his fault that he gets hurt. It's the man who backs out into the road without looking when he's just learned how to ride a bike on the winter roads and not fall.

* * *

He jerks the handlebar to the side to not crash into the car and doesn't see the road bump as he struggles to keep upright, swearing. He comes crashing onto the sidewalk, of course ramming into someone and taken them with him down. He cries out in pain as the asphalt tears the skin on his arms and knees as he tumbles down, hitting his head somewhere in the process. There's even a long bleeding scratch-wound on his stomach, and damn, it hurts!

"Shitshitshit _shit!_ " he hisses as he cradles his arm to his chest, unsure about where it hurts the most since everything's hurting at once!

"Goddammit! Watch were you're going!" a familiar voice swears and Naruto looks up with large eyes, turning blue orbs at the raven haired boy, now in his teens.

"Sasuke?" he exclaims and the raven looks up, a glare in his onyx eyes.

"Should have known. What now, dobe?" he asks and Naruto glares at him then winches when a harsh throb of pain sears through him. Tears spring to his eyes and Sasuke 'tsk's then rises with a pained grimace, limping over to the blond and sitting down beside him.

"You're hurt," Naruto says worriedly and Sasuke gives him a glare.

"I'm well aware of that, dobe. Now be still. You've hit your head," he says as he takes the cracked helmet off, reasoning that if the blond still can talk and recognizes him, he can't be hurt very bad. He frowns at the blood coming from a jack on the top of Naruto's head, coloring the sunshine hair orange-red. Cupping the blond's head in his hands, he tilts Naruto's head back, examining him. "Does it hurt much?" he asks and Naruto gives him a glare.

"Are you stupid? Of course it hurts!" he hisses and Sasuke scowls.

"Not the scratch-wounds, this," he says as he lightly places a finger beside Naruto's wound before carefully prodding other parts of his skull. The blond looks at him for a moment then says dizzily,

"Teme.. I'm going to faint now."

Sasuke's about to tell him to cut it out when the blond sags forward against his chest. He swears then gets his cellphone out and calls the ambulance, staring down at Naruto as he talks. When he's done, he stuffs his phone back into his pocket and lets out a sigh, brushing the back of his hand over his forehead as he closes his eyes. He sits silently for a while then looks at Naruto again, people passing by stopping to stare and whisper or passing with an odd glance at them.

Sasuke reaches up with a faint smirk and brushes Naruto's cheek with the back of his hand before wrapping the arm around the blond's shoulders.

"Really, you are a dobe," he mutters as he stares up at the blue sky, hearing sirens in the far distance.

"Hey.. are you alright?" a voice asks behinds him and Sasuke grunts when a woman leans forward, looking at him worriedly.

"Ambulance's coming," a girl then says, running up to the woman and Sasuke heaves a sigh of relief. The girl stares at him wide eyed and Sasuke notes that she has pink hair and green eyes. She seems distinctively familiar but he brushes it off when the ambulance arrives, screeching to a halt beside them.

The medics are sure of what they're doing but Sasuke still frowns when they're about to pull Naruto away from him.

"He hit his head. I think his neck might be.. kind of out of function for the moment," he says and the medics nods, saying that they know as they places a cervical collar around the blond's neck before they move him to the stretcher. Naruto is still unconscious and Sasuke snarls at the medics when they try to do the same for him and rises and climbs into the ambulance without any help, sitting heavily on an available place. He receives an odd look when he slumps against the wall then the medics connect a monitor to Naruto before checking him up, stopping the bleeding from his head. Sasuke keeps quite for a while then he asks,

"Have you got morphine?"

"What? We have salicylic acid, paracetamol, ibuprofen and diclofenac. But I don't think we have morphine," one of the medics reply and Sasuke grimaces.

"Damn.." he mutters before beginning to rummage through his pockets, finally finding the small box he's searching for. He opens it and swears then asks, "Have you got a syringe?"

"Uh.. yeah. Are you sure that you know what you're doing, boy?"

"Name's Sasuke-" Sasuke says as he turns the bottle upside down and sticks the syringe through the lid, filling it up to a red marked limit before putting the small box away again and flicking his fingers against the syringe to remove any bubbles, "-and yes, I'm sure."

The medic's still seems uncomfortable as Sasuke rolls up his trousers and injects the liquid into his thigh. He gives the syringe back with a small smirk then relaxes against the wall, the strain in his body disappearing for the time being. The medic looks at him then holds the syringe up and smells it.

"Hey, what did you just give yourself?" he then asks, alarmed, and Sasuke glances at him.

"Morphine. I asked for it because it's still tough to get it from the pharmacy," he replies and the medic looks a bit struck.

"You're - what? Seventeen? - and you got morphine on prescription?" the medic says and Sasuke shrugs.

"It's helpful. It's worth the side effects if I can get rid of the pain for a while," he murmurs and the medics stare at him as he tilts his head back with a blissful smile.

Shizune greets them in the Emergency Room and when she sees Sasuke's expression she immediately orders,

"Get him to an X-ray then put him to sleep! Now!"

"But he said-"

"I don't give a damn about what he said! Get him to the X-ray! If he's taking morphine, he's definitively broken something!" she yells and they jump at her words and the stress in her voice. She goes about helping the one of the medics, the woman, that isn't tending to Naruto move Sasuke to a stretcher and they disappears as another medic shows up, helping the one left in the ambulance with Naruto.

"Hey.. Mitate?"

"What is it, Oyone?" Mitate replies as they lift Naruto out, carefully moving him and the other man frowns.

"Just who is that boy?" Oyone asks and Mitate looks up in surprise and frowns.

"You don't know? That's Uchiha Sasuke!" he exclaims and Oyone looks helpless.

"Who?" he asks and Mitate let out a sigh as he rolls his eyes.

"Sorry. I forgot that you and Kumadori are newbies."

"We're not newbies," Oyone protests irritably because, really, he's been doing this the past eight years.

"I know. But Sasuke's kind of a legend in this hospital. He saved the boy here, Naruto, when he fell from a tree. And then they discovered that he has rheumatoid arthritis when he complained about feeling severe pain in his knees, elbows, and also finger joints."

"Severe pain? Even a seventeen year old would complain about pain earlier than a stadium of severe!" Oyone said and Mitate lets out a laugh.

"He's fifteen! I understand that you thought he's older but he's barely an adolescent!" he chortles then he gets serious when they move Naruto to a real bed before taking over when they go into the X-ray. Oyane finds that Kumadori is waiting by the ambulance with Shizune, the two women talking with serious expressions, when he comes back.

"Hey, Oyane! Come over," Kumadori says and he does, accustomed to obeying his twin-sister. They do look alike but Kumadori has longer hair and her eyes a slightly browner than his own blackish ones.

"What is it? And is Nero still in the car?" he asks, looking towards the ambulance where he can see the third of their team still sitting in the driver's seat, reading.

"Yeah, but you know how afraid he is of blood. He must have a real need to help since he puts up with it everyday," she replies before she says, "But we have to-"

" _Respiratory distress reported from Konoha City's West District, street 13,"_ the communicator in Oyone's belt buzzes and he presses the talk button as he and Kumadori rushes to the ambulance and says curtly,

"Roger that, we're on our way."

Shizune watches them leave then she smiles and goes back to the front desk where she's stand-in for Kayima who's on maternity leave. She sits down and smiles slightly as she begins to type on the computer, filling in Naruto and Sasuke's files. She jumps when her phone rings and quickly picks it up,

"Yes?"

" _Shizune-san! Is it true that Naruto's been admitted to the hospital?"_ a very stressed Iruka asks and Shizune smiles slightly.

"Yes, he's here. But he's in surgery so if you want to you can finish your class then come over," she says and Iruka groans, frustrated.

" _You think I can concentrate on teaching math when Naruto's in surgery? Don't be ridiculous. I'll be there in a minute,"_ he replies and Shizune smiles when he hangs up on her.

"Lucky Naruto," she murmurs before she begins working again.

* * *

 

Sasuke's still smiling. Tsunade's still glaring steadily at him. Naruto's looking between them with confusion, his bright blue eyes wide. Iruka's waiting outside the door with Itachi.

"Baa-chan~.. are you gonna tell me why Sasuke's acting like he's high?" the blond whines and Sasuke looks at him, the smile diminishing to a smaller, more sincere one.

"Morphine can get one high you know. And you have beautiful eyes," he murmurs and Naruto lifts an eyebrow then looks at Tsunade and says seriously,

"Don't give him morphine again."

"I'm not sure I will have that choice, brat," she then says as Sasuke leans his head back against the pillows in the bed he's lying in, seemingly going back to sleep.

"Teme.." Naruto mumbles as he lies down, moaning in pain when he stretches out. His head aches like somebody's hitting him with a hammer and all his scratch-wounds stings like hell. The fact that he has a concussion makes him feel nauseated all the time too, which is even less good.

"I'm going to leave you two. Don't destroy anything," Tsunade sighs as she turns to leave, opening the door just as Naruto closes his eyes with a sigh.

"'M tired," he mumbles as the door clicks shut and Sasuke grunts in agreement.

"Shut up and sleep then, dobe," he murmurs and the blond frowns.

"If I could hit you, I would, teme," he replies and Sasuke turns his head the other way. Naruto sighs and closes his eyes again when the door opens and Itachi and Iruka are allowed back inside.

Itachi looks at the blond for a while before he pads over to Sasuke and stands beside his bed, staring down at the very much awake teen. He goes around and sits in the chair on the other side, looking at Sasuke who doesn't acknowledge him.

"You could have asked for another room," Itachi states quietly and Sasuke frowns, displeased.

"Fuck off," he mutters and Itachi arches an eyebrow before he asks,

"If the morphine isn't working any longer why didn't you tell Tsunade-sama?"

"Not your business."

Itachi stares at him for a moment then leans forward and folds the cover back slightly, until he can see Sasuke's hands. The younger flinches when he picks the tightly clenched fists up and carefully begins to bend the fingers straight. Sasuke doesn't say anything, doesn't make the slightest sound as Itachi's warm hands holds his own but when Itachi looks up at him, tears are dribbling down his cheeks.

"Otouto.." Itachi sighs as he gently rubs Sasuke's hands, worriedly watching the raven-haired boy tense before pale fingers curls loosely around his own. "Don't act so strong," he whispers and Sasuke rolls his eyes in a silent response that makes Itachi smirk.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke then asks and Itachi shrugs.

"Thought it be better for you in some way if I at least checked up on you," Itachi replies and Sasuke rolls his eyes.

"Stop working so much then, be home in the evenings," he mumbles back and Itachi chuckles quietly, mouth wry. The argument is old and familiar.

"If I could," he replies and Sasuke breathes out a sigh.

"Let's sell the house and move to an apartment then. It'll be a bit easier on you until I can get a work," he mumbles and Itachi frowns.

"You'd never say that, Sasuke. What's happened?" he asks and Sasuke looks away.

"Nothing," he mumbles and Itachi scowls fully.

"You will tell me what it is, Sasuke, and you will do it now," he orders and Sasuke shakes his head lightly, trying to pull his hands back but giving up when Itachi holds onto them. The older raven stares at him for a long time before he quietly states, "It's the stairs, isn't it."

Sasuke's brief widening of eyes is all the answer he needs. Itachi sighs and carefully put Sasuke's hands down before he rises.

"I'll fetch some hot water bottles and wheat bags for your hands," he says and Sasuke grunts in agreement, glaring at the wall. Itachi looks at him for a moment then he sighs and leaves the room.

Sasuke listens to Iruka who's asking Naruto questions for a while then he sighs and closes his eyes again, slipping into a light sleep, his hands as for now uncurled and lying where Itachi placed them.

* * *

 

Naruto looks over at Sasuke who's really silent as he listens to Iruka's lecture about biking when it's snowed.

 _What was he doing there? If I didn't know better I'd say he's stalking me, especially since I see him around so much,_ he thinks as he gazes at the pale teen, wondering if Sasuke knows that he's looking.

"Naruto?" Iruka then asks, frowning, and the blond jerks and looks back at him.

"Eh.. yes?" the blond replies nervously and the man turns and look at Sasuke then back at Naruto and lifts an eyebrow.

"Is there something I should know?" Iruka asks and Naruto's face goes beet red in a second. Iruka nods, smiling. "Aa, thought so."

"Shut up!" Naruto mutters, looking away.

* * *

 

Itachi finds Sasuke asleep when he comes back half an hour later with a duffel bag filled with hot water bottles and the older Uchiha nods to Iruka who's watching over Naruto who's sleeping too. Iruka smiles and nods back. Itachi walks over to Sasuke and puts the duffel bag down before carefully removing the cover.

He sighs as he notices that Sasuke's knees are red and swollen in excess of being bruised and scraped from the fall earlier. He places hot water bottles around the raven's knees and feet before he pulls the cover up to the teen's thighs. Then he carefully uncurls Sasuke's left hand again and presses a wheat bag into his palm. It's designed so that it's able to be tied around the hands and Itachi carefully knots it together then does the same for the other hand

When he's done, Sasuke's woken up and is looking at him. Itachi nods to him as he places the rest of the hot water bottles around Sasuke's elbows and shoulders before he tucks the cover around the raven again.

"Feeling better?" Itachi asks low and Sasuke nods.

"A bit," he says and Itachi sits down on the bed beside him, reaching out and brushing the youngster's bangs away from his face.

 _"If you don't want to move, I can ask Kurama to help me refurnish my study. You can have that room, it's on the bottom floor after all. Actually, that would be really good since I'm almost always working in the living room either way the few times I'm home and that way we don't need to have any electricity on upstairs, nor any heat,"_ Itachi says in Japanese, their native language, and Sasuke looks away, frowning. _"Sasuke, don't feel guilty. Please."_

 _"All right,"_ the raven mutters and Itachi smirks tiredly.

_"To what?"_

_"Moving downstairs,"_ Sasuke mumbles, looking annoyed and Itachi nods.

 _"Good. Now sleep for a while, Sasuke. I'll be here for a while;"_ he assures him quietly and Sasuke sighs but does close his eyes, relaxing slightly. The warmth radiating from the hot water bottles soothes the aching in his joints and for the time being, he feels fine.

Itachi breathes out a heavy sigh when he's sure that Sasuke's asleep and Iruka looks up from the newspaper he's reading.

"How is he, Itachi-kun?" he asks and the young man sighs.

"He's alright. Far from fine, but alright."

"Okay," Iruka says and Itachi turns with a half smile.

"How's Naruto doing?"

"He's fine. The only thing bothering him really is his concussion. He's complaining about feeling ill," Iruka replies with a smile and Itachi nods. "It was very kind of Sasuke to help him out again. Give him my thanks when he comes to."

"Hn. I think Sasuke was on his way to Naruto when they collided. The foolish boy has been watching over him for quiet a while now," Itachi says and Iruka laughs silently.

"Are you implying what I think you are?"

"Possibly," Itachi smirks and Iruka smiles. Itachi looks at Naruto for a while then he asks low, "Have you seen my lover around? That fox has a very unreliable interpretation of time."

"Kurama? No, he hasn't been home for months. And you're right that he's useless when it comes to keeping track of time."

"Heh. It's not nice to talk about somebody behind their back, ya know," a deep voice says behind them and both Itachi and Iruka jumps up. Iruka looks both angry and happy as he stomps over to the red-haired man.

"Where have you been, young man? I've been worried to death!"

Kurama grins and hugs the brown haired man hard, Iruka smacking his head when he lets go, frowning at him but there's a smile tugging at his lips that ruins the whole annoyed-parent act. The redhead's grin becomes a smile when he sees Itachi who takes a step closer with an unsureness in his eyes that the tanned man finds irresistible.

Iruka steps aside when he sees the expression on the red haired man's face and Kurama takes a few long strides forward, stopping directly in front of Itachi. Grinning down at the lean raven, he says,

"I'm home, baby."

Itachi lifts an eyebrow and dryly replies,

"No, you're in Konoha Central Hospital."

"True!" Kurama laughs and Itachi's expression darkens then his eyes turn red and when Kurama only grins wider, the raven snaps.

 _"WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN, DAMN FOX!"_ Itachi yells at the top of his lungs in Japanese, effectively waking Naruto and Sasuke up just as Kurama receives a hard slap that splits his lip.

"Aniki, are you okay!" Sasuke asks, sitting up quickly before collapsing with a hiss as he cradles his hands to his chest.

"Big brother! When did you return?" Naruto shouts happily as he jumps out of the bed and onto Kurama's back, clinging to the large man. Kurama snickers, looking in amusement at the fuming Itachi.

"About half an hour ago, kit. Now get down and back to bed, you have a concussion, remember?" the redhead says and Naruto jumps down and sits on the bed, wrong bed though, grinning widely.

Kurama lifts his hand and brushes his thumb over his bleeding lip then he cups Itachi's cheek with the same hand, smearing his own blood across the Uchiha's pale skin. Itachi's glare steps up a notch.

"Sorry, baby. I would have gotten back a month ago if I hadn't been shot," he murmurs, looking serious and Itachi scowls.

"Fuck you," he says and Kurama laughs.

"Excuse us for a moment," he then says to Naruto, Sasuke and Iruka, grinning again.

Naruto's eyes widens comically when he grabs Itachi's hair, puts an arm around his waist and proceeds to kiss the living daylights out of him. Sasuke's eyes widen when Itachi grabs two fistfuls of red hair and yanks the man closer, willingly parting his legs when the tanned man plants one of his own between his thighs. Iruka looks up at the ceiling, blushing and mumbling exasperated complaints under his breath.

Itachi's breaths comes in short gasps when Kurama finally leans back, grinning like a maniac.

"Am I forgiven now?" he asks and Itachi rolls his eyes and wipes his mouth.

"Let me think about it. You've been gone for five fucking months in another fucking country, which means I've had a five month long dry-spell, not calling even once, not a letter, not any mails, no nothing! No! You are not forgiven!" Itachi hisses and Kyuubi pouts.

 _"Ijin,"_ he mumbles then he smiles and kisses Itachi's forehead, pulling the raven into a hard embrace. Itachi doesn't hug him back, but Sasuke notices that he buries his head against Kurama's shoulder, his own shoulders lowering as he relaxes. Kurama does too and hides a smile in Itachi's dark hair, closing his eyes in satisfaction.

"Uhh.. big brother? How long have you, you know, been _together_ with teme's aniki?" Naruto says, his voice a little strangled and Kurama grins at him as Sasuke closes his eyes with a sigh.

"As many years as it is between me and Sasuke-chan," he says and Sasuke's eyes snaps open and he glares at the redhead. Naruto frowns then looks over at Iruka who's standing by the door and asks him instead.

"Call me 'chan' one more time and you'll be sorry," Sasuke snarls and Kurama grins.

"I'd like to see you try, kiddo. Sasuke-chan, Sasuke-chan, Sasuke-chan~!" he sing-songs and a muscle in Itachi's brow starts to tick. A moment later, Kurama's flat on his back, moaning in pain, cradling his thigh. "Fuck! That's mean, 'Tachi!"

"Serves you right," Itachi replies, glaring bloody murder at the man, his eyes bright red again and his fists clenched tightly. "If you ever, _ever_ , again calls Sasuke 'little sweet', I'll do ten times worse. And remember, I know every sensitive spot on your whole body."

Sasuke smirks at him and Kurama snarls back but doesn't get up.

"You totally planned this!" he accuses the raven and Sasuke's smirk grows.

"No. But I do know my brother," he replies easily and Itachi gives him a half-hearted glare.

"You're one evil kid, otouto. I almost feel bad for him," Itachi mutters as he looks at Kurama who grins lazily. The raven rolls his eyes and nudges the man with his foot as he says, "Get up."

Kurama's grin widens before he put his hands beside his head and somehow jumps up onto his feet, bouncing on his heels for a moment.

"Why did you punch me?" he then asks and Itachi leans his head back, glaring at the ceiling.

Sasuke motions for him to come closer and the redhead curiously does, missing Itachi's dark glare. Sasuke whispers something into the redhead's ear and Kurama jerks back and _stares_ at him.

"Are you _serious_?" he exclaims and Sasuke nods and watches in amusement as he turns to Itachi, looking rather angry. Itachi manages to look sheepish as the redhead stalks closer and Kurama's punch isn't half as bad as he expects. "Are you fucking stupid?" Kurama asks, standing over Itachi with his fist still in the air. Itachi smiles.

"I guess we're even then," the sprawling man says as he rubs his stomach. Kurama sighs and his posture relaxes then he bends down and helps Itachi up by taking a grip under his arms and simply lifting until the older of the two ravens is on his own two feet again.

"In punches at least," he replies and Itachi nods once.

 _"Sorry. I was acting stupid, I know. It's just that I becomes so damn unsure about you when you're 5'000 miles away and probably surrounded by others that's better than me,"_ Itachi mumbles softly in perfect French and Kurama pulls him into another hug, holding him tightly.

" _You're only mine and I'm only yours. Isn't that our deal? I love you, baby. You're the only one I want to be with. Don't ever forget that,"_ he whispers back and Sasuke pretends that he doesn't understand a word of what they're saying. It works until Kurama asks, _"Do you understand French, kiddo?"_

And Sasuke? He doesn't do lying.

 _"...Oui,"_ he answers unwillingly and Itachi jumps and swears. Kurama laughs at him then they switches languages again, to Italian and Sasuke has a hard time following, especially since he's just begun taking that class. Sasuke smiles unknowingly then he looks down when Naruto tugs on his cover.

"Can I lie down? I'm tired as hell and my head is killing mes" Naruto asks softly, so low that Sasuke almost can't hear him. But he does and nods. Naruto turns slightly then lies down, curling into a small ball against Sasuke's side. Sasuke pulls the cover back up, over both him and the blond who appears to be asleep already. When he's done, he finds three pairs of eyes on him and he scowls.

"What? He said he was tired," he snaps and Iruka smiles widely as Itachi smirks and Kurama laughs.

"Don't worry, kiddo," he says and Sasuke's scowl eases slightly.

"Well, I'm going to be heading home, Naruto appears to be in good hands after all," Iruka says and Kurama nods and shakes his hand as he says,

"Take care. I'll step by later on, 'Ruka-chwan."

"Moron. But do so," Iruka agrees as he smiles faintly at the man who grins. Itachi shakes his hand too and invites him to come over for dinner on the weekend. Iruka smiles and agrees then he walks over to Naruto and bends down and kisses the boy's forehead, murmuring a quiet goodbye before he says goodbye to Sasuke too who nods in reply. Then he leaves, closing the door carefully behind himself.

"Kiddo, I guess you're doing well in school so I'm just going to ask what grade you are in now," Kurama grins and Sasuke looks up at him with a frown.

"I'm a junior. Eleventh grade. When are you going to stop calling me 'kiddo'? I'm fifteen, remember."

"When you get a boyfriend, a work and a house I'll stop calling you kiddo," he replies and Sasuke frowns deeper.

"Why boyfriend?" he asks and Kurama rolls his eyes then switches to Japanese and says,

_"Don't you think I've seen how you're looking at the kit there. And 'Tachi told me you've been watching over him too. Thanks for that, by the way."_

Sasuke glares at Itachi as his cheeks heat up then he winches badly when he unknowingly clenches his hands. He hisses as he lifts them up, tucking his fists under his arms to warm his hands up. Kurama frowns in worry as Itachi immediately goes over to him to help and asks,

"Kiddo, isn't it any better?"

"Fuck no. It's worse. Since I fell this morning because of a certain _dobe_ , I've been on rather strong pain-killers. And you can see how well they work," Sasuke replies with a grimace as Itachi carefully uncurls his hand, untying the wheat bags before going over to the duffel bag and picking out two new. Sasuke smirks slightly at him when he comes back and murmurs, "As prepared as ever, aniki."

"With you around I have to be. Troublesome child," Itachi smiles at him and Sasuke smiles a small smile back as he closes his eyes again, sighing in relief at the warmth. Itachi sits in the chair beside him until Sasuke's fallen asleep and for a while longer then he rises and walks over to Kurama. Kurama hugs him at seeing the distress on his face and Itachi let himself be only the tired and worried older brother for a while, leaving Kurama to deal with everything for the moment.

"Let's go home, baby," Kurama murmurs as he kisses his temple and Itachi draws a deep breath as he nods.

"Yeah."

They say goodbye quietly to the two children then they leave the room silently, turning the lights down low, Kurama's tan fingers lacing with Itachi's paler ones as they walk.

* * *

 

Hours later, Sasuke opens his eyes with a silent hiss. His knees are throbbing with pain, as are his hands. He swears in every language he knows as he tries to reach for the button that calls the nurse, unable to since he just _can't_ straighten his fingers. Suddenly a warm hand covers his own as Naruto leans over him and presses the button hard. Sasuke stares at him wide eyed, breathing hard from the pain. Naruto smiles then he lies back down, curling together again but closing his eyes first when the nurse enters.

"Sasuke-san?" Tika asks and Sasuke nods slightly as she turns the nightlight on. "What can I do for you?"

"I need some analgesics. My knees are killing me," he grimaces and Tika nods as she walks over to stand with drip and analgesics beside the bed. She does something Sasuke can't see but the the IV in his wrist gives a throb as more liquid flows into his system. A few minutes later, the pain starts easing and Sasuke takes a deep relieved breath. "Thank you."

Tika smiles at the sincerity in his voice then her small pager beeps and she leaves with a soft,

"Good night, Sasuke-san."

"Teme?" Naruto then asks quietly, and Sasuke sighs then looks at the blond. Blue eyes meet his and Sasuke lifts an eyebrow at the worried expression on the boy's face.

"What is it?" he whispers and Naruto carefully touches his hand. Sasuke grimaces.

"You're hurting," Naruto mumbles softly, his worried frown deepening and Sasuke chuckles quietly.

"'Course I am. I've had arthritis since I was nine. It's getting bad," he whispers and Naruto pouts.

"Why aren't you worried?" he asks, just as quiet, and Sasuke smiles at him.

"Of course I'm worried. I'm just very good at hiding it."

"But Papa says that you should always tell adults when you are hurting because some of them can help you," Naruto protests and Sasuke nods.

"That's correct. And both aniki and your brother and Iruka-sensei and the doctors here know," he replies and Naruto looks worried.

"But why don't they stop your pain then?" he asks and Sasuke sighs softly.

"Because they can't. They can give me medicine but they can't really cure me. But I will be better later, I promise," he says and Naruto nods then asks uncertainly,

"Can't I do something? Like that Itachi-kun did with your hands?"

Sasuke hesitates then he nods and says,

"You can try but you have to be very careful. I can't control my hands fully when I'm feeling a lot of pain. Okay?"

Naruto nods then gently turns Sasuke's hand so that his palm is lying up. Sasuke almost stops the blond when he removes the wheat bag but Naruto's warm hand replaces the bag before his fingers curl together. Sasuke looks on for a moment as the blond gently rubs circles into his palm and over the inside of his wrist. It's incredibly soothing. Sasuke leans his head back and closes his eyes as a small smile stretches his lips. Naruto's hands are amazingly warm and he relaxes completely as the child rubs his hand tenderly, replacing the wheat bag that he's somehow gotten warm again when he's done. He does the same for Sasuke's other hand and Sasuke's about to fall asleep when Naruto whispers,

"Is it better?"

Sasuke opens his eyes again and smiles slightly when he meets bright blue eyes.

"I'm about to fall asleep again so yes, it's much better," he replies and Naruto smiles back, relieved.

"Good," he says and Sasuke lifts his hand and strokes Naruto's cheek with the back of his fingers.

"Thank you," he murmurs and Naruto's face goes completely red in embarrassment. Sasuke stares at him with wide eyes for a moment then he starts laughing. Naruto frowns at him and Sasuke smiles warmly at him. "You're such a moron."

"Teme!" Naruto snaps back and Sasuke grins then scoots a little to the side and holds his arm out, in a clear invitation. Naruto's blush deepens but he does lie down and Sasuke curls his arm around his shoulders slightly. After a moment, Naruto snuggles into his side and Sasuke says without thinking,

"You're warm."

"Shut up," Naruto replies but Sasuke hears the happy note in his voice and smiles, leaning his head against the blond's. "Sasuke?"

"Hn?" Sasuke grunts, half asleep and Naruto fiddles with the hem of his shirt before he asks quickly,

"Don't you get nightmares when you're in the hospital?"

Sasuke opens his eyes and stare up at the ceiling for a moment then he says,

"Not really. I guess I did when I was younger but I've been in and out of here the last five, six years so it's no longer scary."

Naruto only nods and Sasuke frowns slightly then asks,

"Do you get a lot of nightmares?"

"Yeah," Naruto mutters, then gasps when Sasuke shifts and somehow creates a dip just beside himself in the mattress that Naruto automatically rolls into. The blond's face goes red again as he stares at Sasuke who smirks.

"Since I suppose you're just like Ku - you are brothers after all - I assume you like holes," the raven says and Naruto pokes him hard in the side, making Sasuke twitch. The raven's still smirking when Naruto curls together with his back against his side and after a short moment the blond is deep asleep. Sasuke breathes out a sigh as he closes his eyes and relaxes, the child radiating warmth against his side. Not too long after that, he too is asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease were the body attacks the joints and the protective lining is broken down which cause the bones to rub together, which is extremely painful. The joints typically swell up with redness due to inflammation. Pain medication, warmth, rest, and anti-inflammatory drugs are used to treat it, and replacement of major affected joints might be necessary.


	3. Surprise

The third time Sasuke saves him isn't too long after they've been released from the hospital.

* * *

Sasuke looks up when the doorbell rings and Itachi sticks his head out through the kitchen door and, dressed in the pink apron and with a spatula in his hand, yells,

"Can you get it, Sasuke?"

"Sure," Sasuke replies then he grabs the cane he uses when he's home and rises from the couch where he's been sitting for the past hour, doing calculations on a problem he got from his teacher in mathematics. The raven links over to the door, leaning heavily on the can, and opens it without removing the security chain. "Yes?"

"Teme~! Come on! Open the door, it's freezing out here!" Naruto yells at him and Sasuke rolls his eyes then closes the door and takes the chain off. Then he opens the door widely again and Naruto bounces in, the snow on him melting and dripping all over the place. Sasuke scowls and uses his cane to wipe the blond's feet away from him, making him topple over with a shout.

"Mah, kiddo, take it easy on him," Kurama says behind him and Sasuke scowls at the redhead as he kicks his shoes off.

"Go help Itachi before I kick you back out. Don't try anything funny!" Sasuke yells after the man as he goes further into the house. Iruka closes the door after himself and smiles at Sasuke, chuckling at the raven's exasperated expression.

"Good evening, Sasuke-san. How have you been?" he asks and Sasuke grunts.

"Slightly better. Welcome I suppose I should say. I wish Itachi could tell me when he invites people home," the teen mutters and Iruka smiles and nods. Naruto gets up off the floor, rubbing his butt with a pained expression.

"Teme! Why do you have to be so mean?" the blond whines and Sasuke gives him a glare.

"You interrupted me while I was doing math. Dobe," he replies and Iruka lit up.

"Naruto, maybe Sasuke can help you with your home work!"

" _What?_ I don't need no help with my homework! Especially not from that teme!" Naruto screeches and Sasuke huffs in annoyance then he hobbles back to the couch, glaring at Kurama who pokes his head out from the kitchen and mouths 'lovebirds' at him.

Flopping down in the couch, Sasuke almost jumps right back up when Naruto dives over the backrest and lands in a heap beside him, laughing merrily. The blond grins at him and Sasuke sighs then he leans forward and picks up his books and calculator. Naruto supports his head in his hands, his elbows on the couch as he kicks his legs in the air, looking curiously at the problems in Sasuke's book.

"Isn't all this very hard?" Naruto then asks, frowning a little at the text. Sasuke nods.

"A bit," he replies and Naruto glances up at him.

"Um.. actually, could you help me with my homework too? I don't understand any of it and Iruka isn't very good at explaining things," the blond says, looking back down when Sasuke meets his eyes.

"Maybe," the raven mumbles, inwardly smirking at Iruka's foresightedness, as he scribbles down the answers to the next three equations before he closes his book. "Well, where's your book?"

"Home. I got the task in my head," Naruto says and Sasuke lifts an eyebrow then opens his own book on an empty page and gives it and a pencil to Naruto. The blond takes them and places the book against Sasuke's thigh as he begins drawing and writing quickly. Sasuke smirks at the concentrated look on the blond's face, the tip of his tongue sticking out between his lips as he frowns. Naruto lights up like a lamp switched on when he's done and grinning says, "There!"

"Let me see," Sasuke mutters as he takes the book and looks at the equation. It's so childishly simple that Sasuke lifts an eyebrow in surprise.

 _Even a dobe like Naruto should be able to solve this,_ he thinks but Naruto is looking expectantly at him and with a sigh he puts the book in the blond's lap and begins explaining. Twenty minutes later, Sasuke finally manages to make Naruto understand, using the simplest of terms and ideograms.

"'Ruka-chwan! Papa! Come and look!" Naruto then calls and Iruka walks out of the kitchen and comes to stand behind the couch, smiling.

"Aa, did you solve it, Naru?" he asks and Sasuke rolls his eyes when Naruto nods eagerly.

"But teme helped me a lot too!" Naruto then says and Sasuke sighs.

"Really, he didn't understand what I was saying at all. I had to make him think of slicing apples. Apples!" Sasuke says, scowling, and Iruka nods with a soft sigh.

"Yeah, yeah. But well done, Naru! And thank you, Sasuke," the man then smiles and Sasuke nods curtly as Naruto practically beams.

Sasuke picks up his own books again and continues solving the problems. He's having trouble with a particularly tough problem when Naruto suddenly points at one of the hardest but rather simplistically explained tasks and says,

"That's 12."

"Hardly," Sasuke snorts and Naruto glares at him.

"It is! Check the answer if you don't believe me!" the blond snaps and Sasuke glares at him but does open the book on the page with the answers and checks.

12.

" _What?"_ he screeches and Naruto jumps.

"What is it?" he asks anxiously and Sasuke turns and stares at him until he begins squirming, feeling quite uncomfortable. "What?"

"Here. See if these are as easy," Sasuke then says as he opens an empty page in his book and scribbles down five or six hard but simply put problems. Naruto looks at the paper as he writes and when he's finished, Naruto just snatches the pencil and writes the answers down quickly, Sasuke's eyes going wide.

"Teme, don't make fun of me. Those are child's play," Naruto then pouts and Sasuke nods numbly then opens his own book and flips a few pages forward until he encounters a long problem containing variables and division except from addition, subtraction, multiplication and parenthesis. He writes it down and hands it to Naruto before he opens his folder and gives the blond a paper he's made for himself to keep track of all the rules you must follow while solving problems.

Naruto frowns at it for a while then reads the paper Sasuke has given him as the raven looks at him. Sasuke's about to give up and give the blond something simpler when Naruto begins writing nearly frantically, the pencil tip breaking off a few times and forcing him to stop until he's pushed out more of the leads.

"There," Naruto then grins and gives the paper back to Sasuke who frowns down at the problem before grabbing his calculator and clicking it in. Both answers are exactly alike down to the fourth and last decimal.

"Naruto, come with me," Sasuke then says, his voice strangled and Naruto frowns in worry but follows him obediently. Sasuke's holding the papers he gave to Naruto and his calculator as he links into the kitchen. Itachi glances over at him then does a double take when he sees the shocked expression Sasuke's wearing.

"Otouto? What's happen?" he asks, putting the knife he's using down as he walks over to the raven. Sasuke doesn't reply but gives him the papers, Naruto hiding behind his back with a slightly scared expression. "What is this?" Itachi asks as he looks at the papers with a small frown, not recognizing the writing.

"Iruka-sensei, Naruto's mathematical problem is not because he's stupid. He's too smart to understand the easy problems," Sasuke says, his voice still strangled and Iruka's chair topples over as he shots up and runs over to Itachi, reading over the raven's shoulder.

"Jesus Christ."

After that, the dinner doesn't exactly go as planned as a flustered Naruto is asked to solve problem after problem, Sasuke translating the sentences to easier English when the blond doesn't understand them.

A while later, Naruto is asked to come and visit the university, attending on of Kakashi-sensei's classes. It doesn't exactly go as Sasuke thought it would, despite all his careful planning.

* * *

 

Sasuke ignores the looks he gets from the students that are four or five years older than himself as he walks down the corridors to the temporary locker Kakashi gave him to keep track of all his papers related to the project. But Naruto isn't as unaffected and after a moment, the blond tugs on Sasuke's sleeve, almost making him lose his balance since it's the same side as the hand he's holding his cane in, and asks in a whisper,

"Why are they staring at me, teme?"

"Because a twelve year old isn't common at the university, baka," Sasuke replies as he spots his locker.

"Teme. You promised papa to not be mean, remember?" Naruto pouts as Sasuke opens his locker and picks out the books and papers they need.

"Hn. Let's go," the raven sighs as he lifts his shoulder-bag up and begins walking again. Naruto trots one step behind him, after a while grabbing onto the back of Sasuke's shirt nervously. The raven rolls his eyes as he pushes the door open to the room they are going to use then he frowns when he sees that it's full of people and a chorus of,

" _YOU ARE LATE!"_

meet him. He lifts an eyebrow at the students then speaks dryly,

"The teacher is never late. It's the students that are early."

The young men and women gape at him when he goes over to the front desk and put his bag down on it, Naruto still hiding behind his back.

"For your information, you will be participating in a project Kakashi-sensei and I are doing together with some of the best mathematicians in the world, to test the possibility that a person can solve the toughest problems _without_ understanding the simplest ones. Do you think this is possible? Please discuss this among yourselves as I write the equation down," Sasuke said and the class begins murmuring excitedly as he turns to the docking station for the computer and starts Kakashi's computer, logging in. He'd forced the pervert to change the password earlier, into a row of numbers he'd memorized.

He did the necessary calibration for the system after he'd started the board, then he began writing, holding a clipboard in his free hand and checking the equation occasionally. Naruto is somewhat curled around him, keeping out of sight. And Sasuke's hardly bothered by now, the blond has been with him to the university twice already. When he's done, he turns back to the assembled students as Naruto hides behind him completely and says,

"Now, please pick up the paper before you. Write your name on the paper, read the equation at the top and begin solving it. It is the same equation as I just wrote on the board," Sasuke says, frowning slightly when only a few of the students comply. "You have one hour!"

He smirks when the rest of the students quickly grabs their papers and pencils and begin writing down the solutions. Sasuke sits down at the front desk and does the same, wondering what Kakashi has put together. And of course it's ridiculously difficult. Naruto snatches a paper from him after a few minutes and sits down on the floor behind him with a pencil and starts drawing figures and Sasuke looks at him for a moment before he concentrates on the equation again.

A while later, Naruto gets up and pokes him in the ribs as he asks silently,

"Can I go and look around? This is boring."

"Sure. Go ahead. But don't leave the room, okay?" Sasuke says sternly and Naruto nods with a big grin.

"I promise!"

Sasuke shakes his head as he continues writing, frowning at the calculations as Naruto walks over to the windows and climbs the stairs to get as high as possible, looking out over the campus curiously. After a moment, he goes around in the room, curiously glancing at how the students are solving the equation. When he comes back to Sasuke, he leans over the raven, frowning down at his paper.

"What is it, dobe?" Sasuke asks and Naruto shrugs then says,

"They're writing wrong. And teme, you too!"

"Where is it wrong?" Sasuke scowls at the paper and Naruto leans around him and points at a sequence of numbers. Sasuke reads it through at least three time before he understands what he has done wrong. "Shit."

Naruto practically beams at him as he rewrites it and Sasuke smirks faintly at the blond's energy then the alarm he set on his phone goes of, the device buzzing in his pocket.

"All right, time's up! Put your pencils down and turn your papers upside down at the edge of your table," he says and there's a loud clatter when over fifty pencils drop onto the tables. "Dobe, go and gather the papers," Sasuke then requests and Naruto looks up from where he's sitting on the floor, out of sight again. The blond sighs then rises and does, picking the papers up as he walks up and down the aisles, frowning at the answers.

"Here," the blond mutters as he comes back to Sasuke who shakes his head and gives the blond three pencils.

"Put a red ring on the paper if the answer is completely wrong, an orange ring if the person has done the same mistake as I did and a green ring if they thought like you. Got it?" Sasuke says and Naruto nods as he sits down on the floor again.

A boy among the students suddenly stands up and exclaims,

"Is a _kid_ going to grade our papers?"

"No, but he's going to check if the answer is wrong or right. You won't be getting a grade on this.. test," Sasuke replies with a smirk and Naruto stands up and gives Sasuke the papers back with a frown just a minute later.

"They didn't get anything right," he mutters under his breath and Sasuke rolls his eyes.

"Okay. When you hear your name, please come down and get your paper then return to your seat. Miyata Tomo," Sasuke calls and the students comes down one after one and get their papers back. Near the bottom of the pile he finds a name he recognizes and he isn't surprised over the green ring at the top of the paper as he calls, "Nara Shikamaru."

"Forget it, Sasuke. He's out," Sabaku no Gaara says as he comes down to the front desk, the other students looking at him warily.

"Gaara. Here's Shikamaru's paper too. Foxy sends his regards," Sasuke says as he hands the papers to the red-haired youngster who nods. Sasuke then looks up until he spots Shikamaru's pineapple like hair and yells, "Hey, Nara! Foxy says hello!"

"Troublesome.." comes the sleepy reply as a murmur races through the students and Sasuke smirks and shakes his head. Gaara's about to leave when Naruto suddenly jumps up on the desk and throws himself at the psychotic redhead as he cries,

"Uncle Gaara! It is you!"

"Hey, Naruto," Gaara's indifferent mask cracks up into a smile and Sasuke rolls his eyes and continue calling out names as Naruto asks,

"Why haven't you visited, uncle Gaara?"

"Been busy," Gaara replies in his usual short manner as he holds Naruto in his arms. Sasuke finishes handing the papers out and then he says,

"Please, those of you that have gotten a red ring on your papers, raise your hand."

Almost every one in the room raises their hand and Sasuke nods slightly.

"You have failed the task."

"What!" the guy from before screeches and Gaara turns and _glares_. The guy pales and falls back into his seat as Sasuke says,

"Sit down please. Now, as I said before, this wasn't a test that will affect your grade in this course. Now, may I ask you that have gotten an orange ring to raise your hand."

A girl at the front and one boy at the back lifts their hands and Sasuke nods.

"Good. You have done one minor mistake. Now, the ones that have gotten a green ring, please come down here."

No one moves but Gaara who shifts through the papers he's holding then calls,

"Shika, get down here!"

Shikamaru stands with a sigh as he slowly walks down the stairs, yawning when he comes down.

"What now?" he asks and Sasuke nods to the white board.

"Could you write an as complicated equation on the next board?"

"Troublesome.." Shikamaru sighs but takes the pencil and starts writing as Naruto talks excitedly with Gaara who's still _smiling_.

"Naruto, could you get down and solve the first equation?" Sasuke then asks with a small frown when Shikamaru is done and Naruto grins.

"Finally!" he exclaims as he jumps down and runs over to Shikamaru who gives him the pen as he lifts an eyebrow at the child's excitement. Naruto hums silently as he solves the first equation then he changes pages and continues on Shikamaru's before Sasuke can ask him to stop. The raven just sighs and rolls his eyes at the blond when Naruto beams at him. "Done!"

"Well. Good. But couldn't you have waited just a moment with Shikamaru's equation?" Sasuke sighs and Naruto grimaces.

"No, it's easier to solve things when I've already begun. I don't wanna stop," the blond pouts and Sasuke frowns.

"Hn," the raven grunts then grabs Naruto's hand and pulls him in front of the desk before placing his hands on the blond's shoulders and saying, "Everybody, I'd like you to meet Uzumaki Naruto, a twelve year old that can solve close to anything from equations of the first order to cubic equations."

"Um.. hello.." Naruto mumbles shyly as the students murmurs among themselves. Sasuke leans down and, before he let the blond go, whispers,

"Well done, Naruto. Ask Shikamaru to write up another while I talk, okay?"

Naruto nods then gives the raven a small smile and runs over to Shikamaru who yawns before he leans down to Naruto's level to hear what the blond is saying. Sasuke looks out over the class then asks,

"Did anyone in here believe what I just said?"

Silence.

"I'll take that as a no. You saw that Naruto solved the equations Kakashi and Shikamaru made, yes? Good. Then would anyone like to come down and write a equation for Naruto to solve, and make sure he doesn't cheat?"

"I don't cheat, teme!" Naruto yells at him and Sasuke glances at him and says,

"I know that, dobe. Now go back to work."

"Teme," Naruto mutters as he turns back to Shikamaru who is writing equations on the Smart Board, one for each new page. He listens halfheartedly as Sasuke discuss things he doesn't quite get with the students but he's more focused on what the guy with pineapple like hair is writing. After a moment, Sasuke turns to check on them and frowns when he see the Smart Board.

"Shikamaru, you're writing too easy equations. Naruto has already solved each one of them," he says low and Shikamaru glances at Naruto who looks at him expectantly with a grin and mutters a,

"Troublesome."

Sasuke smirks faintly when the lazy genius begins writing harder equations and Naruto has to concentrate.

"Excuse me, Sasuke-kun? How come that child can solve problems Shikamaru writes? I mean, Shikamaru maybe sleeps through most of his classes but he's still the smartest guy on campus," a girl with blond hair in a ponytail asks and Sasuke shrugs.

"I wouldn't be here if I knew that," he replies and the students chuckles nervously.

"Seriously, Sasuke-kun," the girl then says and Sasuke frowns.

"I was serious," he bites out and a collective murmur goes through the class then Sasuke hear a irritated noise behind him and turns around. Shikamaru is glaring at Naruto who beams back at him, apparently tired of writing equations. Equations that have answers printed down directly underneath them.

"This is stupid, Sasuke," the young man says angrily and Sasuke sighs then grabs the pen from him and opens a new page and writes down a simple problem then he gives Naruto the pen.

"Solve it. Ask Shikamaru if you need help," Sasuke says and Shikamaru's expression darkens until he sees the confusion on the blond's face.

"Sasuke? Doesn't he-"

" _Teme!_ This is too hard! You promised not to be mean!" Naruto interrupts him, scowling at the Smart Board and Shikamaru gapes in surprise.

"Are you serious?" he exclaims and Naruto glares at him then tosses the pen at him and cries,

"If it's so easy, then solve it yourself!"

Shikamaru blinks then writes down a nine on the page. Sasuke smirks at them as Naruto only glares at the brunette then the raven steps over and writes up two new problems and gives the pen to Naruto again.

"Solve it, dobe. And Shikamaru, apples."

"Apples?" Shikamaru asks with a bewildered frown and Sasuke nods and repeats affirmatively,

"Apples."

It takes Naruto twenty minutes or so to solve the first, with Shikamaru's help, and when he sees the second, the blond looks ready to cry which makes Gaara react. The redhead pushes away from the wall he's been leaned against and says to Sasuke,

"Stop it, Uchiha."

"Hn."

Sasuke nods, frowning slightly in worry as he walks over to Naruto and puts his hand on the blond's shoulder, taking the pen from him. He rewrites the equation, at least until the blond takes the pen from him and writes down the answer without a word. Sasuke takes the pen back then changes page and begins to write down a cubic equation he's memorized. When he's done, Naruto is smiling at the Smart Board again and Sasuke shakes his head as he gives the blond the pen. Naruto is writing before the raven has had a chance to step out of the way and Sasuke quickly moves as the blond fills the board with numbers and things he barely understands but that makes Shikamaru straighten and walk over to the blond, sometimes bending down to whisper something in the blond's ear. Gaara shakes his head and leans back against the wall as Sasuke turns back to the gaping students and begin talking again, ending the 'lesson' he and Kakashi made into a project, mainly for Naruto's sake.

Hours later, the only ones left in the room is Sasuke, Naruto, Gaara and Shikamaru. Gaara and Sasuke is talking quietly as Shikamaru and Naruto solves cubic equation after cubic equation together, chattering excitedly about the problems.

"So, Kurama's back, huh?" Gaara finally asks and Sasuke sighs then nods.

"Hn. I'll know for sure when he's left again."

"Itachi doesn't really enjoy being away from him, does he?" Gaara mumbles and Sasuke shakes his head.

"No, not exactly. I don't think Ku likes it either. They're such saps after all," he says with a small smirk and there's a cough behind him that makes him turn. Itachi is glaring at him, Kurama half a step behind him, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Sasuke, a word," Itachi hisses and Sasuke swallows but rises with some difficulty and follows his brother a bit away.

"What is it, aniki?" Sasuke asks, slightly uncomfortable and Itachi nods towards Naruto and Shikamaru, and Gaara.

"What are they doing here?" he asks, not unfriendly and Sasuke glances over at Naruto and Shikamaru who seem oblivious to the fact that Kurama and Itachi is there. Kurama is speaking quietly to Gaara who shrugs repeatedly, frowning at the redhead.

"I don't really know. Gaara and I was talking and Naruto and Shikamaru are solving cubic equations like they are puzzles," Sasuke replies and Itachi nods.

"All right. Then why is a fourth of the student body talking about 'that kid Naruto'?"

Sasuke winches at the anger he detects in Itachi's voice and answers nervously,

"It's a project Kakashi and I made about Naruto, at the same time teaching the class. But that lazy teacher isn't here as you can see so I had to hold the lesson. And Naruto has been solving all the problems Gaara, Shikamaru and I could think of until now."

"And for how long have you been doing that? You do realize that the clock is almost seven pm," Itachi says and Sasuke shook his head.

"I didn't keep track of time. Naruto and Shikamaru seemed to be having fun so I just let them be. I'm sorry, aniki," he mumbles, looking down and Itachi sighs then suddenly ruffles his hair.

"It's all right. I was just worried about you. You're supposed to be home at five at Fridays, remember?" the older raven sighs and Sasuke nods and apologizes again as he looks back up. He's long since stopped complaining about the hours his brother keeps. Itachi smiles faintly then nods and walks back to Kurama as Sasuke watches Naruto turn around, smirking a bit at the blond's surprise when he sees them.

"Big brother!" Naruto then yells as he rushes over to the redhead who catches him with a grin, swinging the small blond up into the air.

"Hey, kit! What are you doing?" Kyuubi grins as he holds the blond high above on straight arms, Naruto giggling joyously.

"I'm doing math with Shikamaru! It's fun!" the child beams and Sasuke breathes out a sigh as he gathers the papers and his cane before he silently leaves the room, letting Itachi deal with the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to play around a bit with the fact that Naruto is described as intelligent, yet he has a hard time grasping concepts. Here, when Naruto looks at a long equation, he gets a sense of how to solve it and it unfolds like a map for him, whereas things that otherwise would be regarded as easy does not give him that map-like insight and thus frustrates him.


	4. Shocking Words

The fourth time Sasuke saves him, they are both stressed to breaking point, and he's not handling it very well.

* * *

Sasuke sighs as he leans back against the desk, looking out over the students. He's tired and annoyed and _everything_ has been going wrong lately and Kurama has disappeared again which means that his brother is depressed and working himself to exhaustion practically everyday. And Naruto? Is getting too.. troublesome.

Speaking of whom..

"SASUKE! Help me!" Naruto demands as he comes storming in through the door in his typical teenage manner. Sasuke pinches the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh.

"Class dismissed," he says as Naruto flops down in his chair, continuing to write furiously on his papers as the students pack their bags and leaves, murmuring excitedly as they glances at the hyper blond. "What is it, dobe?" he asks when they are alone and Naruto throws the pencil down onto the desk with a frustrated noise.

"I don't get this! Please, Sasuke, explain it to me. Matai said he was going to fail me if I didn't do it really good," Naruto says, leaning his head in his hands, the frustration in his voice bordering on hysteria.

Sasuke glances over the blond's shoulder at the equation then he rolls his eyes with a small smirk. He grabs the pen and drapes himself over the blond's back as he writes, simplifying the sentences. Naruto lets out a soft breath as he completes the equation and writes down the answer, then he says,

"Thanks, Sasuke. You saved my ass."

"Any time, dobe. Just, don't come rushing in when I'm teaching, all right?" Sasuke sighs as he sits down on the edge of the desk, lifting his hands to rub his temples as he closes his eyes.

"You look like shit, teme," Naruto says and Sasuke grunts.

"I kinda feel that way, idiot," he mutters then his breath hitch in surprise when warm hands lands on his shoulders and begin working the kinks out of his neck and back. He let his hands drop into his lap with a soft sigh as Naruto rubs the hard knots out.

All the last month's stress and 18 hour days makes themselves reminded when he relaxes and let his head loll forward, taking deep breathes whenever flashes of pain runs through him. He yelps then hisses in discomfort when Naruto suddenly hugs him hard, the blond's forehead landing with a thump on his back. When he's gotten over the fact that the blond just killed his elbow joints, he realizes that said blond is shaking against his back.

"Naruto? What is it?" he asks and Naruto takes a shuddering breath before he exhales, warm air skating over Sasuke's back.

"Sorry. I'm just-, ah, forget it!" Naruto mutters, but his arms tighten around Sasuke slightly. The raven sighs then asks silently,

"Is it about Ku?"

Naruto doesn't answer for a while then he nods hesitantly and Sasuke grunts and relaxes.

"It's all right, Naruto. I know he's disappeared again; Itachi's been a mess for almost a month," he murmurs and Naruto nods, but doesn't let go. Sasuke frowns slightly, wondering what he should say. He's not very good at the whole comfort thing. "Isn't Iruka-sensei home?" he asks and Naruto shakes his head then mumbles low,

"Papa's with Kakashi. They're hiking, but I don't think neither Iruka nor Kakashi are doing much walking, exactly."

"No, I doubt it. Well, would you like to stay with me and aniki then? I can come and pick you up later," Sasuke says and Naruto looks up and asks hopefully,

"Sure? Should you really drive considering how much pain you're in?"

Sasuke chuckles and replies,

"Probably not. But I can make an exception for you."

"Really? Thanks, Sasuke!" Naruto says and Sasuke nods then says,

"Could you let go and get down now?"

"Hai!" Naruto grins as he jumps down from the desk and grabs his papers before he runs out from the room.

Sasuke shakes his head as he takes his cane and leans on it as he gathers his things. A small sound alerts him of another presence and he sighs then asks,

"What is it, Gaara?"

"Wrong person, kiddo," Kurama grins at him when he turns around abruptly.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Sasuke then asks when he's gotten over the initial shock.

"Oh, this?" Kurama asks as he plucks at his bloody clothes before letting them drop again. "Just my job. Hey, do you know where 'Tachi is? I can't find him."

"Have you tried his office?" Sasuke asks as he leans a hip against the desk and Kurama frowns.

"What is he doing at the office at six-thirty in the evening?"

"Probably working to keep his mind away from anything that is related to you in any way. He comes home at eleven most nights," Sasuke replies, a note of anger in his voice and Kurama looks sad.

"Poor baby. Why doesn't he tell me these kind of things?" the redhead murmurs and Sasuke rolls his eyes.

"He's an Uchiha, baka. Now go and change and shower then go and pick him up. Or the other way around. Your decision," the raven says as he grabs his shoulder-bag and walks towards the door.

"Kiddo! Be careful with the kit, all right?" Kurama calls after him and Sasuke turns and lifts an eyebrow.

"I'm not stupid, Ku. He's all I have after all," Sasuke replies and Kurama grins crookedly.

"Good. Go get him."

Sasuke has a small smirk covering his lips as he walks down the corridors towards his own office, an unusual bounce in his steps. Matai stops him when they meet and asks,

"What's with the happy spirit, Sasuke-san?"

"Hn? Nothing, I'm just on my way home," Sasuke replies and Matai looks unconvinced but Sasuke bids him good bye and continues walking before the man can start talking again. The raven reaches his own office and puts his shoulder-bag and cane down and grabs his jacket before he leaves, locking the door behind himself.

He walks down to the parking lot and puts his padded leather jacket on along with the gloves before he grabs his helmet and mounts his bike, ignoring the stinging pain it results in. As he starts it, he gets some surprised looks from a few remaining students and hides a smirk as he drives away smoothly. From the university to where Naruto lives it's barely ten minutes walking time and he's there in just a few minutes, the Yamaha purring under him as he pulls up on the drive way to the small house. Naruto's eyes are wide and the blond looks like he's about to faint when Sasuke pulls his helmet off and calls,

"Get on, dobe!"

"Teme! Since when do you ride a motorbike?" Naruto cries as he walks over to him and Sasuke smirks.

"Since a while. Get on," he replies as he tosses his spare helmet to the blond. Naruto catches it and shrugs his backpack on before he pulls the helmet on and mounts the bike behind Sasuke.

"Where do I put my hands, teme?" the blond asks and Sasuke rolls his eyes then grabs his hands and wraps the idiot's arms around his middle before he puts the helmet back on. Naruto clings to him with a startled laugh when he takes off, taking the first turn sharply which makes the blond cry out before laughing again. "Shit! Take it easy, Sasuke!" Naruto yells and Sasuke smirks then pulls the next corner as sharply and the blond screams. Sasuke chuckles since he really isn't going fast but apparently, the blond has never rode a motorbike before.

Naruto's breathing hard when Sasuke finally pulls up and stops outside his and Itachi's home, the Uchiha manor. His hands are aching badly and his knees are slightly numb from the pain but seeing the large grin on Naruto's face makes it worth the agony. The blond practically jumps up and down as he takes the helmet off, still grinning as he asks,

"Do you ride this often?"

"Not really. The few days I feel okay," Sasuke replies as he takes his helmet off and shakes his head to remove his hair from his face. He hisses silently as he dismounts and pulls the bike into the garage, Naruto closing the door behind them as Sasuke turns it off. Naruto looks at him as he takes the helmet the blond wore and puts it back before he takes the keys out, fixing with the bike for a moment as Naruto watches.

"Sasuke?" Naruto suddenly murmurs softly and the raven looks up with a curious expression.

"Hn?"

Naruto stares straight into onyx orbs for a while before his face abruptly goes beet red and he flees into the house, calling over his shoulder,

"Nothing, gomen!"

Sasuke sighs and shakes his head as he straightens with a groan, shrugging his jacket off and wrapping it around his hands to warm them up. He switches the lights off and closes the door behind him as he walks into the hallway, kicking his shoes off. Naruto is blushing deep red as he stares at something in the living room and Sasuke rolls his eyes then walks over to the blond and asks,

"What is-!"

His mouth drops open as he too stares at the two men wrapped around each other, making out heavily, then he swears, mostly over the fact that Kurama hasn't changed and that there's blood on the living room floor and Itachi's white shirt is completely ruined.

"KYUUBI! FOR GOD'S SAKE, THERE'S SOMETHING CALLED BEDROOMS! ANIKI, YOU TOO!" he yells and the two jump apart, both equally startled as they stare wide eyed at them then Kurama laughs warmly.

"Shut up, kiddo. See ya later, kit," he grins before he grabs a flushed Itachi's hand and drags the raven with him upstairs. Sasuke shakes his head as he links towards the kitchen before he stops with a groan and turns halfway around, only to see that Naruto is holding his cane out for him with a crooked grin.

"Thanks," Sasuke sighs as he takes it then resumes walking. Naruto sides up with him and says softly,

"You shouldn't have picked me up."

"Oh, shut up. I do as I please," Sasuke replies, rolling his eyes. Naruto grabs his shoulder and forces him to stop as he stares at him, frowning.

"I mean it. Don't do things that makes you feel worse. It makes me feel bad too," the blond says and Sasuke sighs then lifts his hand and brushes the back of his knuckles over the teen's tan cheek.

"I have myself to blame, baka. And I really did want to pick you up."

Naruto goes beet red again in an instant and Sasuke smirks slightly as the blond ducks away and quickly hurries on into the kitchen. He follows at a more normal pace and finds Naruto sitting on the table, kicking his legs slightly as he bites on his thumb nail, a nervous habit he has.

"Dobe, you can't eat that, I promise," Sasuke teases and Naruto lowers his hand with a frown.

"Shut up, teme," he mutters and Sasuke smirks and shakes his head as he opens the fridge and searches the shelves and boxes for something edible. He almost hits his head when he jerks upright in surprise when Naruto suddenly appears beside him.

"Jesus, stop sneaking up on me!" the raven sighs as he carries the vegetables and tofu he found to the kitchen bench.

"Gomen," Naruto mumbles as he puts a bottle of soy down beside him before reaching up and picking down rice from one of the cabinets. Sasuke frowns then asks,

"Have you grown taller than me, dobe?"

Naruto looks at him surprised and Sasuke tilts his head to the side as he inspects the blond from head to toe, noting every change. How he's almost an inch taller, his shoulders broader and his whole frame more muscular than what he remembers. When he looks up, there's something in those azure blue eyes that he can't seem to decipher and he asks,

"What is it?"

Naruto suddenly smiles and shakes his head, beginning to pick out things for cooking the food. Sasuke stares at him for a second then grabs the blond's arm firmly and turns the surprised teen around, asking with a softer note in his voice,

"Is there something I should know?"

Naruto just stares at him then he shakes his head again and replies with a small smile,

"Not really, teme. Could you let go?"

Sasuke does with an apology then he sits down at the table, watching as Naruto cooks them dinner, as comfortable in the kitchen as if he lived there too. The blond hums silently as he turns the stove on and begin heating up the frying pan as he slices vegetables into pieces. Sasuke doesn't stop the smile curling his lips as he watches the blond pour water into the pot he's using for the rice as he reads at the package to the tofu, frowning slightly at the text as he worries his lower lip in concentration.

"Ne, teme? What model is your bike?" Naruto suddenly asks, startling Sasuke slightly.

"Yamaha," he replies and Naruto nods impatiently.

"Yeah, but what kind of Yamaha?"

"FJR 1300. Sport touring," Sasuke elaborates and Naruto grins.

"That's a good one, isn't it?"

"Hn. Depends on who you ask I guess," Sasuke replies, leaning his head back as he stares up at the ceiling. "But I like it."

"Mm," Naruto hums and Sasuke glances over at him, noticing that he's fiddling in a nervous manner with the spatula he's using as he fries the vegetables. Smirking slightly, the raven says,

"You have summer break in a while, right?"

"Huh? Yeah," Naruto nods and Sasuke's smirk widens as he says,

"Maybe we could go for a longer ride then. Up to Redwood or likewise."

"What! Sasuke, it's like, two thousand miles!" Naruto exclaims and Sasuke smiles when the blond swirls around to look at him.

"Hn."

"We'll have to stop somewhere and I really don't think camping is good for you," Naruto worried and Sasuke rolls his eyes then dryly replies,

"There are things like hotels, dobe."

"But we'll need money for that, teme! And I need mine to those dumb books!" the blond protests and Sasuke looks at him as if he's stupid.

"Idiot. I can pay for both of us without any problem," the raven deadpans and Naruto frowns.

"But-.."

"Dobe, if you don't want to come, just say so!" Sasuke finally snaps and the blond scowls then turns back to the stove and continues making their dinner, his whole posture radiating anger. Sasuke glares at his back for a while then he sighs and looks back at the ceiling as he mumbles, "Gomenasai."

"Whatever," Naruto mutters as he puts the tofu into the pan and fries it too.

Sasuke glances over at him then rises with a pained groan and walks over to the cabinets and begin setting the table, going around Naruto silently. The blond sighs as he lifts the pot of rice and puts it on the table before he does the same with the tofu and vegetables.

"Do you ever eat meat nowadays?" Naruto asks quietly as he sits down opposite of Sasuke who puts the milk on the table then sits down again.

"Well, chicken and fish occasionally. But not meat. I don't think I've eaten any meat since I was eleven," the raven replies and the blond nods then asks curiously,

"Don't you miss it? I mean, even I would get tired of ramen if there weren't so many flavors!"

"Not really. Tofu and quorn works rather good too." Sasuke replies then smirks and says, "Are you going to help yourself or shall I do it?"

"Shut it, teme," Naruto grins then goes about taking rice and vegetables while Sasuke pours them milk.

"Kiddos, is there any food left?" Kurama asks from the door opening and Naruto turns to say something but immediately blushes and looks back at his food as Sasuke answers,

"We just began eating so there's left, yes. Take some for aniki if he's still alive too."

"Sure," Kurama mutters then yawns and pads, barefoot, newly showered and with only a towel around his hips into the kitchen, grabbing a bowl and two sets of chopsticks. Sasuke moves the pots to the edge of the table as Kurama falls down into the seat beside him and loads the bowl with food.

"And you were still downstairs earlier because..?" Sasuke asks and the redhead glances at him them rolls his ruby colored eyes.

"Got a bit too into it before we got that far. God's, _now_ I'm really tired," he mutters then reaches up and pulls on his hair, letting it fall forward and cover his neck that's spotted with hickeys. Sasuke snorts in amusement when the man blinks at him as Naruto's blush worsens. "I'll be going. I think I'm making _someone_ uncomfortable," Kurama teases and grins as he stands and pads back the way he got there, Sasuke hearing his footsteps continue upstairs in the following silence.

"Jeez, does he have any dignity at all?" Naruto frowns down at his rice and Sasuke chuckles silently and says,

"No. Believe me, he doesn't."

"And why aren't you mortified?" Naruto points accusingly with the chopsticks and glares at him as he asks and Sasuke shrugs lightly.

"I think Kurama or aniki or both have stumbled in here half-naked and searching for something edible several hundred times by now. You'll get used to it," he replies and Naruto grumbles as they continue eating.

When they are finished, Sasuke puts the left-overs away in a box in the fridge as Naruto puts the dirty dishes and pots into the dishwasher.

"Could we watch a movie, teme?" Naruto asks and Sasuke nods.

"Sure. What do you wanna watch?" he replies as he hobbles into the living room, his knees throbbing but at an acceptable level. Naruto walks beside him and thinks for a moment then asks,

"What have you got?"

Sasuke smirks.

"We have a lot," he says as he opens the double door cabinet, revealing row after row with DVDs. Naruto's jaw drops as he stares wide eyed at the cases and Sasuke's already sitting on the couch, rubbing his aching knees when the blond exclaims,

" _Holy crap!_ There's surely over a thousand movies in here! _"_

"One thousand and sixty eight," Sasuke confirms and Naruto grunts as he runs his finger over the backs, searching for something he'd like to watch.

"Hey, Sasuke! What kind of movies do you like?" Naruto then asks curiously and Sasuke thinks for a while then replies,

"Adventures, I guess. Anything but comedies."

" _What!_ Comedies are the best!" Naruto cries as he jumps backwards over the couch, landing on his back with his legs in the air, grinning.

"A bunch of morons running around and doing stupid things? No thanks," Sasuke sneers as Naruto rolls over and falls onto the floor with a thump and a low groan.

"Ouch. Whatever, teme. You don't have any taste, obviously," the blond says then adds when he's started the movie, "Except from bikes. You do have one nice bike after all."

"Hn. What are we watching?" Sasuke asks as Naruto sits beside him, rather close.

"You'll see. I've wanted to see this since it first came out but I never had the opportunity before," Naruto smiles as he chooses language and Sasuke lifts an eyebrow, wondering what could have caught the blond's interest.

"Avatar?" he then asks, a bit surprised and Naruto nods eagerly.

"Yup! Kiba told me it's really good!" the blond beams and Sasuke nods as he leans back against the couch, reaching out and tugging the blanket lying in a heap a bit away over himself to keep warm. Not for the first time, he dryly compares himself to an old man. Only exception is that he's nineteen, not ninety.

"Please, dobe, be still!" he then says because Naruto is wiggling around in excitement and it's very annoying to have the blond moving because whenever he sees a movement at the corner of his eye, he automatically turns. With the hyper blond, that means a lot of turning.

"Gomen," Naruto chuckles as he leans back and Sasuke grunts. "You should learn to talk in actual words though, teme. With those I never know what you mean."

"You always know what I mean," Sasuke counters, somewhat amused, and Naruto grins.

"True."

Sasuke then nods towards the TV and Naruto immediately redirects his attention, centering it at the movie. Sasuke probably spends more time watching Naruto watch the movie than he does watching the actual movie. The blond's comments are random and Sasuke has to look at the movie for a moment to understand what he's referring to before he can reply. After a while, when things becomes more interesting, Sasuke too watches continuously.

Naruto suddenly moves, folding his legs in under him and Sasuke almost starts when their elbows brush. When he glances over at the blond, there's color dusting the teens cheeks, barely visible underneath his tan. Sasuke smiles faintly then lifts his arm and wraps it around the blond's shoulders, pulling him closer and Naruto curls up against his side with a soft sigh. He doesn't say anything but Sasuke can feel the tension leaving the blond's shoulders as he relaxes and he smiles slightly.

"There's something _you_ should know, you know," he mumbles, impulsively, and Naruto starts then asks nervously, without looking at him,

"What?"

"I love you," Sasuke says, a little bit rushed but his voice is soft and Naruto's eyes widen before the blond sits up and stares at the raven, the movie completely forgotten.

"What?" Naruto asks, dumbfounded, and Sasuke rolls his eyes and brings his fist down on top of the blond's head loosely.

"You heard me, dobe," he mutters, blushing slightly and the blond grabs his hand and pulls it away, still staring at him.

"Are you really serious?" Naruto asks uncertainly and Sasuke blinks then scowls.

"Dammit, do I appear to be the kind of person to say that I love someone – not someone, _you_ – randomly?" he hisses and Naruto let go of him as he shakes his head then looks back at the movie.

 _Shit shit shit_ shit! Naruto chants in his head, his heart hammering in his chest. He's been longing to hear those words and now? He. Doesn't. Know. How. To. React!

He leans his head in his hands, his breathing pace picking up into danger territory and after a few seconds, he springs up and leaps over the couch, running straight out the door, ignoring Sasuke's worried call as he slams it shut behind him. He runs barefoot down to the lazy river and jumps into the still chilly water, fully clothed, and comes up coughing and spitting. He draws a deep breath then swims to the shore and climbs up, lying down flat on his back and staring up at the clear sky, the stars shimmering high above his head.

"Fuck. Fuck, am I stupid! Dammit!" he hisses as tears begin to spill down his cheeks as he realizes that he might just have blown his one chance to be with Sasuke. He lifts his hand and places it over his eyes as he mutters angrily, "Fuck that teme. Why did I ever fall in love with him?"

* * *

Sasuke's almost at the door when Kurama tumbles down the stairs, looking frantic.

"Kiddo! What the hell happened? Where's the kit!" the redhead asks then cries out in fright when the raven suddenly topples over when he's knee gives out. Sprinting forward, he manages to catch the raven before he hits his head.

Then Sasuke does a very un-Uchiha like thing. He hides his face against the redhead's stomach and cries. He curls his right hand in Kyuubi's shirt above his head until his knuckles are white and his hand is searing in pain, holding on to the redhead.

Kurama stares wide eyed at him for a moment then he yells at the top of his lungs, not bothering to mask the worry in his voice,

"ITACHI! GET DOWN HERE!"

The redhead gathers the younger Uchiha in his arms and tries to ease his crying vainly. Seconds later, Itachi comes jumping down the landings of the staircase, skidding to a halt beside them.

"Shit! What happened? Otouto?" he asks worriedly as he kneels on the floor behind Sasuke, pale hands beginning to run over the youngster's body, checking for injuries. Sasuke hisses in pain when Itachi reaches his knee and the older Uchiha exchanges a look with Kurama who nods slightly. "I'll be back soon, Sasuke. Don't move."

Kurama leans over Sasuke protectively as Itachi runs off to get pain-killers and a bandage.

 _"God's, I've fucked up big time, Ku,"_ Sasuke suddenly chokes, in Japanese, and Kurama smiles wryly then switches to his native language.

_"Hai. I got that."_

_"Send Itachi after the dobe when he gets back, okay? I think I'm going to pass out."_ Sasuke's breath leaves him in a deep sigh when the redhead nods and Kurama checks for both pulse and breathing when he does faint, just to be sure.

"Shit! Is he alright?" Itachi asks frantically when he comes back and Kurama nods as he takes the bandages from the raven.

"Could you go and get the kit? I think they had some serious disagreement. He's probably by the river so bring a towel. Please, baby?" the red-haired man asks and Itachi sighs then gives him a quick kiss before he runs into the bathroom and grabs a towel, running by again a second later as he heads for the river.

He does indeed find Naruto there, only a few feet from the water, talking to himself.

"..-ause I'm too stubborn to know what's best and never listens. And because he's damn fine for an asshole," the blond speaks to the stars and Itachi smirks then drops the towel on the blond's face, speaking casually as said blond flails,

"I suppose you're referring to Sasuke."

"Itachi! When the hell did you get here?" Naruto asks when he finally gets the towel away from his face and Itachi sighs as he sits down on the grass beside the blond.

"Just now. Care to tell me why my little brother cried until he passed out? He hasn't cried from pain in four years which means it has to do with you," Itachi asks softly and Naruto scowls as he shrugs out of his shirt and wraps the towel around himself.

"Fuck off," he replies and Itachi lifts an eyebrow.

"Now I'm interested. What happened?"

"It's not your problem, okay? Just leave me alone!" Naruto snaps as he begin toweling his hair dry vigorously. Itachi frowns slightly and waits until Naruto lets the towel simply hang over his head before he pulls it away. There's a high blush on the blond's face and his eyes are brimming with tears.

"Naru-"

"Shut up! I don't wanna hear it!" the blond hisses as he rubs his eyes hard and Itachi doesn't say anything, waiting for the blond to start talking.

* * *

Kurama sighs in relief when the smaller Uchiha wakes up just after he's finished bandaging his knee and he sits beside Sasuke and asks quietly,

"Hey. You all right?"

"Not really," Sasuke mutters as he sits up, leaning against the couch's backrest. "Who the hell runs out of the room when someone confess to them?"

Kurama starts then smiles slightly.

"I think Naruto definitively would do that. He wouldn't know how to react when someone he's been in love with for years and only expecting rejection from suddenly say they feel the same. If that's what this is all about, don't worry. He'll come around when he can think straight again."

"Hn."

"You know, I didn't have that problem since I pursued 'Tachi for about a year before I finally got him to date me," the redhead then grins and Sasuke chuckles, albeit slightly unwillingly. He remembers his brother's insecurity and irritation from that time clearly.

"I would have choked the dobe if he'd left chocolates on my nightstand," he mumbles and Kurama grimaces with a small blush.

"Well, he did refuse to accept them when I tried to give them to him in public so what should I do? It seemed easiest to sneak in and leave them in his room when he didn't see."

"Hn. Did he ever get angry with you for that? I mean, you did leave a card on top of the box every time so it was pretty obvious who it was from," Sasuke says with a smirk and Kurama shakes his head lightly.

"Not really. He'll just go as tight-lipped as a mussel and blush if I mention it so I don't," the redhead grins and Sasuke sighs.

"An Uchiha with a sweet-tooth. It's ridiculous."

"Like you're one to talk, teme. With your obsession with tomatoes," Naruto says behind him and Sasuke freezes for a moment before he leans his head back until he can see the blond and says,

"Ramen-addict."

Naruto flips him off with a grin as he walks into the bathroom, bare-chested and holding a towel and his backpack, closing the door behind himself. Sasuke sighs in relief, not realizing he'd been holding his breath, and Kurama and Itachi both smirk.

"Well. We're going back to our movie, have fun," Itachi says as he evades the hand trying to grab him when he walks by with practiced ease and Sasuke smirks.

"Hn. I'm going to pretend I believe you," he says as Kurama grins and jumps up, running after Itachi who skips to the side to avoid him.

"Shut it, otouto. I except things to be sorted when I wake up tomorrow," the older Uchiha adds seriously and Sasuke nods slightly. Then Kurama calls impatiently from the top of the stairs,

"'Tachi, you're slower than a snail."

"You can shut up too," Itachi replies as he leisurely walks up the stairs, Kurama watching him intensively. Sasuke redirects his attention to the bathroom when the door opens and Naruto comes back out, dressed in sweatpants and a loose t-shirt.

Sasuke smiles slightly at the blush the blond's cheeks are colored with when he stops in front of him.

"Um.. sorry. I..." Naruto mumbles then starts when Sasuke takes his hand loosely, looking at him with something in his eyes the blond hasn't ever seen before.

"I didn't mean to startle you. Gomen," Sasuke says and Naruto smiles faintly as he allows the raven to pull him closer.

"I wasn't exactly planning on running away," the blond admits and Sasuke nods then asks softly,

"Could you sit down?"

Naruto's blush deepens slightly as he drops down on the couch beside Sasuke who wraps his arm around him when the blond leans into him. Sasuke sighs then asks silently,

"Why _did_ you run?"

"I didn't know how to react. I got scared," Naruto mumbles and Sasuke buries his nose in the blond's fuzzy hair. "I'm sorry. I just-.. I don't know. I've always thought you'd never feel the way I do so I couldn't wrap my mind around the possibility that..-" Naruto swallowed thickly, "-that you-.. you-.."

"Love you? Dobe. I've always loved you, even though you're a moron ninety-five percent of the time," Sasuke fills in and smirks slightly when Naruto looks up at him. The blond stares at him for a while and Sasuke start to wonder if there's something on his face when the tan teen suddenly leans up and kisses him softly, leaning back a long second later. Sasuke blinks then focuses on the blond and blinks again before he starts smiling. "Hn."

"Bastard," Naruto laughs softly and moves until he's sitting on his knees before he cups Sasuke's head in his hands and kisses him again.

Sasuke puts his arms around the blond's waist, linking his hands behind Naruto's back as the blond straddles him. Naruto smiles when he leans back and Sasuke relaxes, a small, content smile on his own lips.

"I love you, teme."

"I know," Sasuke says then he opens his eyes again and looks at Naruto with a soft smile. "And I'm happy you do."

"Sap," Naruto laughs softly then leans in and presses his lips against Sasuke's again.

The raven's slightly startled when Naruto parts his lips and the tip of his tongue swipes against the seam of his lips, slowly. It takes him less than a split second to decide if he likes it or not, then he parts his lips, letting Naruto's tongue into his mouth. His eyes slips shut automatically as he furrows his brow, trying to decipher what he's feeling. Naruto's hands moves, one to the back of his neck, the other to rest on his shoulder. It makes him relax and he tightens his arms slightly around the blond's waist when a spark of pleasure races through him as Naruto's tongue touches the roof of his mouth carefully.

Naruto pulls back, his breathing slightly labored and his quicker pulse makes the skin on his neck visibly throb, and he's grinning. It irks Sasuke to know that he himself is worse, judging from how his cheeks are burning, his heart aflutter and the butterflies in his stomach are no butterflies, they are rather big, restless birds.

"You don't know how to kiss, do you?" Naruto then asks and Sasuke frowns when his cheeks flame hotter.

"This is the first time I've ever kissed anybody so no, I don't know how to kiss, moron," he says and Naruto smiles.

"Heh. All right."

"What I don't get is how you know how to kiss," Sasuke continues and Naruto flushes in embarrassment.

"Eh. I asked Neji to teach me, like a year ago," the blond answers honestly and Sasuke's expression darkens.

"Baka," he mutters and Naruto grins as he lifts the hand on Sasuke's shoulder and rubs the back of his head nervously.

"Uh.. sorry?" he asks and Sasuke frowns slightly, but there's no anger in his eyes, maybe jealousy, but not anger. And maybe mischief.

"Kiss me again."

Mischief, definitively, Naruto decides as he presses his lips back against the raven's, contentment and pleasure buzzing in his veins.

"Tell me," Naruto murmurs softly against his lips and Sasuke smiles slightly.

"I love you."

"God's, Sasuke.." Naruto breathes, pressing his lips hard against the raven's, making him gasp. Only hearing those three words fills him with an indescribable euphoria, his whole body heating with warmth. "I love you," he murmurs softly and Sasuke smirks a bit and says,

"You better. I'm not going to let you go, you know."

"Mhm.. sounds good," Naruto smiles and Sasuke nods then he cries out when his hand suddenly cramps, his face scrunching up in pain. He swears as he pulls the hand to his chest, about to reach up to rub some warmth into it when warm, slender fingers takes his hand. Naruto's frowning in worry as he rubs Sasuke's hand until the cramp disappears, the raven sighing in relief.

"Gomen. I completely ruined the mood now, didn't I?" the raven sighs, smiling halfheartedly and tiredly, but Naruto chuckles then kisses him quickly before he jumps up and goes into the kitchen. Sasuke smiles slightly, leaning his head back over the couch's backrest as the credits to the movie begins to roll on the screen.

A moment later, Naruto comes back with the special wheat bags Sasuke was given years ago for his hands. Sasuke sighs then obediently holds his hands out and let Naruto tie the warm bags around his hands.

"I really wish this could stop," he mumbles and Naruto nods lightly.

"I know. Weren't you going to get your knees fixed?" the blond mumbles and Sasuke grunts.

"In August, maybe. It's April, dobe."

"Well, it's still sooner than it could have been," Naruto smiles and Sasuke nods. The blond sighs then sprawls out on his back, his feet still on the floor. Sasuke looks at him for a while as the music from the speakers start repeating itself when the movie returns to the main menu. The raven pokes the blond when he's breathing starts to even out and asks,

"Are you falling asleep on me?"

"No, I'm just resting," Naruto mumbles drowsily and Sasuke smirks.

"You were sleeping. Go to bed, dobe," he says and Naruto shakes his head.

"Shut up, teme. What's the time?" the blond mutters and Sasuke looks up at the clock on the wall.

"Eleven o'clock."

"Fuck, and I have school tomorrow," Naruto grouses and Sasuke lifts an eyebrow then smirks again.

"It's Saturday tomorrow, baka. I'd be very surprised if you have school."

"Is it? Huh. I forgot that," Naruto says then he puts his legs up on the couch, straightening out, heedless of Sasuke who suddenly has a pair of legs right across his lap. "Then I'm definitively not moving."

"Dobe," Sasuke says as he pushes Naruto's legs away, making the blond grin before he lifts his legs right back up. Sasuke pushes him off again and Naruto swings his legs back into his lap. Sasuke glances over at the blond and notes that his eyes are closed before he pushes the blond's legs down again and moves.

Naruto starts in surprise when Sasuke's head lands on his shoulder and he opens his eyes, looking down at the raven as said man straightens out, moving until he's comfortable before he stills. Naruto chuckles quietly as he wraps his arms around the older teen, smiling in contentment as he closes his eyes.

"I love you," he murmurs against Sasuke's temple, pressing his lips against pale skin in a lingering kiss. Sasuke's hand moves to rest on his chest and Naruto moves his right arm, placing his hand over Sasuke's, gently holding onto him.

"I love you too," Sasuke whispers after a while, when he thinks the blond has fallen asleep, and Naruto smiles, pretending to be. Sasuke curls into the blond's warmth a bit more, Naruto reflexively tightening his hold, before he settles and goes to sleep. Naruto's smile widens as he too falls asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brr, Naruto you moron. Be happy Itachi brought you a towel.


	5. Love is Loyal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short and cute, all the fluff.

"Sasuke! Darling, are you okay?" Naruto calls from the top of the cliff and Sasuke swears at him as he treks up the steep path. Naruto's grin widens as he waits for Sasuke to come up.

"Damn it, dobe! Why did you choose the most difficult trail there is?" the raven scowls as he leans heavily on the pilgrim's staff, grimacing at the dull pain from his knees. "It'll rain tomorrow," he grumbles and Naruto grins at him.

"Your knees hurting, teme?" he says because, after more than ten years together, they still call each other names.

"Hn."

"I must say, those surgeries and months of rehabilitation did you good. And except from not hearing you bitch about pain, always knowing if bad weather is coming is pretty good!" Naruto laughs and receives some loose hits from the staff Sasuke keeps with him, but the raven is smiling. "Teme," he grins and Sasuke rolls his eyes.

"Come on, dobe. Else we'll be stuck up here forever," the raven says and is about to turn and continue walking when Naruto grabs his free hand and stops him. Sasuke turns to the blond fully and looks at him with an eyebrow lifted. "What?"

"Nothing," Naruto smiles and Sasuke frowns slightly but steps closer when the blond tugs on his hand. An arm wraps around his waist and Sasuke let his staff drop, the small sack on it landing with a thump. He knots his now free hand into the blond's hair as Naruto leans down and kisses him, holding the man close.

"You're a moron," he mumbles when they split, leaning his forehead against the blond's.

"Oh, shut up, teme," Naruto chuckles then he kisses the raven again, tightening his hold around the pale man's waist some.

"Dobe," Sasuke mumbles between one kiss and the next. He tilts his head to the side, parting his lips wider when Naruto kisses him harder, plundering his mouth. Taking command until he can't do much more than try to follow.

"You're my angel, darling. My guardian angel," Naruto whispers against his lips and the raven smiles slightly, his eyes still closed.

"Then I suppose you are my sky," he replies softly, only half joking and Naruto smiles then murmurs,

"I mean it. You've saved me so many times by now that I've lost count. But what's meant the most to me is that you saved me from being afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Sasuke asks, opening his eyes and looking into blue, happy orbs.

"Being without you. I love you, Sasuke."

Sasuke knows that Naruto is about to kiss him again and he can't help but feel disappointment when voices reach them, effectively ruining their moment.

"...-ere they are. Shouldn't two young men like they be on their way back already?" the park ranger Tom's voice comes from down below and Sasuke sighs as he leans back a little. Naruto doesn't let go but eases up slightly so that they're not completely flush against each other.

"Yeah. Maybe they stopped to eat or something? I know that the one with dark hair had a bag on the pilgrim's staff he has," Kendon, one of the other rangers, replies and Tom grunts. Naruto's blue eyes grow as wary as Sasuke's as they look towards the edge of the cliff, waiting for the two men to come up.

"Maybe. I just hope they know there could be bears around," Tom says then they come into view and Naruto smirks slightly at Tom's startled look.

"And you two are looking for us because of.. ?" Sasuke asks as he lifts an eyebrow, moving his hand from Naruto's hair to his shoulder.

"Err.. it will be dark in less than an hour, the sun is beginning to set. And it'll storm tomorrow," Tom says and Sasuke rolls his eyes.

"We know. We were going back."

"Uh.. really?" Kendon asks doubtfully and Naruto frowns.

"No. We were in the middle of kissing and you two are interrupting something I've planned for months so if you could be so kind to turn around and _go back_ ," the blond says irritably and the two rangers both turns red and does, almost running away. Naruto grins. "Hah! It worked!"

"Planned what?" Sasuke asks, frowning, and Naruto chuckles then turns the raven around in his arms so that he's facing the vast space the cliff overlooks.

"I wanted you to see this," the blond mumbles as he places his chin on Sasuke's shoulder as the sun bathes them in golden light.

Sasuke smiles slightly as he watches the sun set over the ocean far away. Colors of apricot, crimson red, bright orange, golden and yellow, cobalt blue and deep purple paint the sea and the sky, the clouds shimmering in pearl-gray.

"Marry me."

"… what?"

"Marry me. Be mine, and let me be yours," Naruto whispers softly in his ear, and Sasuke turns his head, staring at him. Then he turns completely in the blond's arms and kisses him, hard. When they split, Naruto's smiling. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes. Dobe," Sasuke mumbles as Naruto tightens his hold on him again.

"Teme."

A kiss.

"No ring?"

"No, I assumed you were going to kill me," Naruto replies and Sasuke's honestly surprised over the disappointment he feels.

"Hn."

Naruto laughs as he kneels down and reaches into his pocket, grasping Sasuke's hand and slipping the simple gold ring on. He kisses Sasuke's palm as he says,

"'Course I got a ring. You know what a sucker I am for romantic things."

"Dobe," Sasuke mumbles, but he's filled with the same warm, fuzzy feeling he felt the first time the blond kissed him. The same blond that's smiling up at him, still holding his hand. He tugs on Naruto's hand, making the man rise again so he can kiss him which makes the blond smile wider. "I love you."

"I love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
